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We began our 20 days tour through China in Hong Kong. We arrived a day before our tour started and spent a night at Guodadong Guesthouse in the infamous Chungkung Mansions. Our room was ultra compact but very clean and had just enough room for a TV. The ground floor of the mansion was manic and great for people watching. There were West African businessmen in dodgy Savel Row suits, pushy Indian touts and lost and bemused backpackers searching for their digs in the maze of different blocks, stairwells and elevators. The air in Hong Kong was dirty and visibility was [View Full Entry]

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Others may disagree, but if you’re arriving to Bangkok from India, the city is a clean, modern and a hassle free utopia. We avoided the Khao San road and stayed in the Asha Guesthouse, near Saphan Kwai skytrain station. The accommodation was great and we immediately began to relax as we were free from the hassle of rickshaw drivers, touts and traders. Bangkok does have them, but if you refuse their services they just smile and leave you alone. We spent a couple of days exploring the city, visiting the night markets, Grand Palace and Emerald Buddha. The bright colours and [View Full Entry]

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We were keen to get out of Delhi as quick as possible and booked a bus up to Amritsar, home to the Golden Temple. The travel agents near our hotel sold us a 'no hassle' ticket. It included being picked up from their offices and taken to our bus free of charge, saving us the chore of getting across Delhi to the bus station. This being India though, the reality fell short of the promises. We got to the agents at 7.30pm for our lift to the bus. At 8.30pm a bloke turned up and told us to follow him, which [View Full Entry]

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We arrived late into Mumbai and got a taxi straight to our hotel (Pals Hotel). We'd booked our hotel through the internet and knew it was a little bit out of the way but the reviews were ok and it was cheap for Mumbai. In the morning, when we left to explore, we quickly realised that they don't get too many foreign visitors in this neighbourhood. Everybody had a curious face as if to ask ‘what are you doing here’? The young kids playing in the street stood motionless, staring as if we'd just landed on a space ship. We strolled [View Full Entry]

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After a month of trekking around New Zealand’s South Island, we flew into the former convict colony Australia. Home to the world’s deadliest spiders, snakes and as we were to find out, lorry drivers. Sydney’s late spring greeted us with two days of rain, cloud and no sun. Luckily we were only there for a couple of days before flying out to Perth and a better climate. We flew on our first jumbo jet and Gemma was impressed that a plane could have stairs and was curious if we were seated in the upper section. The stewardess was obviously less impressed [View Full Entry]

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Back on the road, our first stop was the capital Wellington. Wellington airport is apparently one of the hardest international airports to land at; being short, surrounded by water and subject to strong cross winds. Our plane appeared to drop rather than land and Tom was effing and blinding that he’d never fly into this ‘bloody city’ again. We were picked up by a friend of a friend of Gemma’s called Charlotte. She lived in the suburb of Melrose. Her house sat on a hill and had a veranda with a great view over the city, one of the city’s beaches [View Full Entry]

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We landed in New Zealand tired, disorientated and in Tom’s case rather smelly after 2 days of flying and waiting for flights. Unlike UK airports, the NZ airport authority employs more than enough people. This allows you to get through a more thorough passport control and customs very quickly and easily, which was a bonus. That being said the free transfer from the airport to our hotel, arranged by Gemma’s new employers, never showed up so we had to get the bus. This turned out to be a blessing as the 7ft tall; 150kg Maori bus driver (they make them big [View Full Entry]

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Our night bus arrived into Angra dos Reis before dawn. The fishing village is the main port for transport to Ilha Grande 10km off the coast. As we walked down to the harbour, the sun was struggling to rise over the back of the island and the town was illuminated by an eerie blueness as the moon light reflecting off the morning mist. We had to walk across a large car park populated by hundreds of large black birds. They looked half vulture, half crow and waddled away as we walked between them. The birds then started to squawk excitedly as [View Full Entry]

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We had one last day in San Pedro before heading south to La Serena. As the weather was hot we went looking for a pool. The only place we found that would have us, was a rather posh hotel. And they only let us use their facilities if we spent at least 7 pound each. So Gemma spent the afternoon drinking wine, sunbathing by the pool with the girls. As Tom was the only bloke in the group and didn’t think much of the ‘bikini wax chat’, he spent 3 hours sitting in the Jacuzzi (the pool was so cold when [View Full Entry]

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